News & Events

Annual SWE Conference: Dallas SWE Member Perspectives, Part 2

by Dallas SWE on in Special Events

Note from the Webmaster: This is our 100th blog post!  I’m so proud to be a part of sharing information with all of you on this site.  ~Shelley Stracener

Below are more experiences from Dallas SWE members who attended WE14 in Los Angeles, CA October 22-25, 2014.  Enjoy!

Laura Geiger, SWE Region C Membership Chair

 I really enjoyed reconnecting with past leadership who I worked with as a Senator and seeing them now as higher ups in SWE. All the sessions I attended were very well done. I learned some interesting tidbits from these sessions such as :

1. 16%= typical engineering grad rate of females (highest was 24%)
2. After attending a SWE conference, one GUY was a better father and husband b/c he saw life thru a different lens. He also thought it helped him communicate with his son.
3. Quiet your inner self doubt by looking at yourself from the 3rd person
4. Lead with your heart!

Neha Dobhal, SWE Dallas Vice President of Membership

 I had a wonderful experience at the international SWE conference this year. My time was divided into attending a couple of immensely motivating speaker sessions and recruiting for Abbott Labs, the company I work for, at the career fair.

Session Highlights – One of the sessions I attended was for the corporate council members and was based on ‘communication at work’. My biggest takeaway from this session that most people can be divided into being action, process, idea and people oriented. As such communication styles can vary across the board. It is important, as a professional, to be aware of personality types around you and suitably adapt your communication style. Hearing this message again at the SWE conference, really embedded this concept in my brain and since I have been back, I have had fun exploring its applications. Another very informational session I attended was the advancement of STEM and women in STEM in emerging economies, such as India. This has always been a topic close to my heart and it was so inspiring to hear that this was a topic discussed at the national conference. The advancement made in this field so far is commendable and I left the session feeling very hopeful and resolved to do my bit for this cause!

Recruiting Fair – As always, recruiting at the regional and national SWE conferences, has been a fun experience and this time turned out to be even better. A few companies had exciting product exhibits out, while most others gave away fun promotional items.Before the career fair started, I took a walk around the exhibit hall, talking to fellow recruiters and looking at booths, I was amazed at the camaraderie between women from different companies who were at the SWE conference. We were all there to motivate women to embrace challenging careers and provide resources to help them along the way. As the fair started, I had the opportunity to speak to a lot of attendees about Abbott and discuss their passion for healthcare/medical devices and their motivation to work at Abbott. While it is always tough to narrow down candidates for interviews and eventual job offers, I was really pleased to see the level of motivation and talent these women possess. Through the process, I learned a lot about the different schools people were attending and the different academic/professional projects in which they were involved. Almost everyone at the Abbott Booth was a current engineer or had been an engineer at some point in his/her past life and as such set an motivating example before these women. The overall turnout at the career fair was great and it was incredibly tough choosing between so many talented women for the position we were hiring.I congratulate all the attendees who took the first step of attending the conference for various reasons, be it attending the sessions, getting motivated or furthering their career. At the same time, for those who have never attended a conference or are planning to attend the next one at Nashville, I would highly recommend it ! It is absolutely thrilling to be in the company of dynamic, motivated and hard working women who have high aspirations to change this world for the better!

Annual SWE Conference: Dallas SWE Member Perspectives, Part 1

by Dallas SWE on in Special Events

Below are more experiences from Dallas SWE members who attended WE14 in Los Angeles, CA October 22-25, 2014.  Enjoy!

Morgen Schroeder, Dallas SWE Secretary

I enjoyed that the sessions ranged from industry specific, or technical in nature, all the way to sessions promoting personal development through goal setting, career planning, leadership, and mentorship. It was awesome to connect with other ladies from other offices around the country that work for my same company, and I was so happy to reconnect with SWEsters from my collegiate SWE section!

Jennifer Vilbig, FY13 and FY14 Dallas SWE President

If you’ve never attended an annual society conference, you are missing out on countless sessions & motivational, inspirational speakers that will help you in both your professional and personal life. With registration, you have access to three days of sessions along eleven different tracts that range from career & life transitions to best practices for K-12 outreach.

This was my fourth annual conference, and somehow, until this year I missed the fact that the “Mega Sessions” (categorized under special events) are speakers you do not want to miss! I attended the “Mega Session: Playing Big” was presented by Tara Sophia Mohr, a leadership coach and author of Playing Big. The largest take away from this session was her advice to discovering your inner mentor. She stressed that an external mentor can only share what worked for them, but cannot tell you what will work for you! I only sat through the last half of her session, but she was so inspirational that I have purchased her book, and will be starting a thread on the Dallas SWE Linked-In Group to have a virtual book club for anyone interested! Another mega session I attend was presented by Gail Golden, a psychologist and consultant for over 25-years. Her talk, Finding & Using your Power described eight different types of power, but focused mainly on expert power & referent power. She believes that effective women leaders successfully use expert and/or referent power. As engineers, we already have the qualifications to be considered an expert. In addition, we should cultivate our ability to communicate in a language that other people can understand as this is very useful in many businesses. Now, you’re probably wondering what exactly referent power means, just as I was during the session.  She described it by mentioning Oprah; others admire her, want her approval and desire to be more like her. Authenticity & consistent honesty are two ways to develop referent power. I attended several other sessions, but these were the two that stuck out in my mind most.

Couldn’t make the conference and are kicking yourself? Never fear! For $199 you can purchase access to the Virtual Conference that includes over 70 hours of recorded content to view at your leisure! Attended conference, but missed the two sessions I described above? Again, never fear! You can add access to the virtual conference to your full registration for only $19.95. Visit the WE14 Registration page for additional information.

Professionals, after reading about how wonderful the SWE annual conference is above, do you think you won’t get funding to attend from your boss? Have you even asked? I encourage you to watch out for the WE15 announcement e-mails and utilize the three step Cost/Benefit Kit on the website (once it is launched). This kit will prepare a formatted letter with the advances to attending as well as an estimate on the costs so you can forward it directly to your boss! The worst that can happen is he/she will say no!

Nandika D’Souza, PhD – Dallas SWE Vice President of Outreach

The realization hits me more than a few times a day “I worked for 18 years before I went to a SWE National Conference”. I have spent the last couple of years doing leadership workshops, attended a host of professional development talks, have devoured communication books, leadership training……Nothing seems to have hit the spot as well as the time I spent at the SWE National Meeting in Los Angeles. So what were the things that made it so amazing?

  1. To be in a building filled with successful, intelligent, dressed in business casual, formal, informal. Hearing the laughter and realizing that all the things that make me tick work for others too.
  2. To attend the plenary sessions and learn to both acknowledge that there is the inner critic and that there are steps we can do to overcome them.
  3. To understand the fundamentals of LEED certification from the perspective of a working professional
  4. To engage with global engineers in the hallways of the hotel and get a perception of the scope of engineering for a better tomorrow. I learnt a lot about needs for energy and water filtration that we can all help with.
  5. Learning how global teams can work together from Honeywell and ramifications of analytical/overly critical responses to our colleague’s self-confidence.
  6. Feeling so positive from seeing my 3 UNT engineering students around the convention center from the faculty-counsellor sessions and getting great ideas on what we can do for our engineering students at UNT.
  7. Getting to see just what a selfless leadership we have at Dallas SWE. It was inspiring to see Jennifer Vilbig mentor Georgia Tech students and alum, sitting with them at many sessions and have Shelley give up her Celebrate SWE tickets for me to be able to attend the event.
  8. Sharing a room with engineers was a great experience too as I got perspectives from other engineers of the day and felt even more enlightened.
  9. Just loving the WE14 Mobile App and then buying books by the zillion as I picked up books on the amazon app from a talk on coupling tone and word choice.

A3 – Leadership Communication Formulas for Aspiring, Advancing, and Achieving

by Dallas SWE on in Meetings

Exceptional leaders need effective communication strategies.  What you say, how you say it, with whom you chose to communicate, and how your receive messages from others are keys to success in the workplace (and everyplace). Using basic math principles, Audrey will discuss inclusive communication formulas that add value, subtract leadership land mines, multiply your strengths, and divide your weaknesses.  We will explore innovative ways to aspire, advance, and achieve.  Be prepared to exponentially improve your leadership communication – no calculator needed!

When:  Tuesday, November 18, 2014, 6:00-8:00pm

Where: Olive Garden, 4240 Beltline Rd, Addison, TX 75001

Cost: FREE! Since we are meeting at the Olive Garden, food will be available for purchase!

Register: Please RSVP at Eventbrite!

Audrey Selden
Audrey Selden

About the Speaker:

Audrey Selden (Austin, Texas) retired as the Deputy Commissioner for Compliance at the Texas Department of Insurance in August 2013 after more than 20 years in public service.  Her “rewire-ment” includes public speaking and nonprofit Board service.

Audrey frequently speaks about leadership and her dedication to public service.  She is the Board President for Leadership Women Board, a social enterprise that helps women learn more, lead well, and leave positive legacies. She serves on the Executive Women in Texas Government (EWTG) President’s Advisory Committee, the EWTG Scholarship Committee, and is a member of the Women’s Chamber of Commerce of Texas. Past Board experience included Literacy Austin and the Girl Scouts of Central Texas.

She served as the Texas Assistant Secretary of State from 1991 to 1994.  Audrey graduated from Harvard Law School in 1986 and clerked for U.S. District Judge William Wayne Justice.  Her prior work experience included being a litigation associate at a private law firm and a college academic advisor.  She received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Michigan State University.  The YWCA honored Audrey with the 2010 Woman of the Year Award for Racial Justice.  She also received the 2001 Women on Their Toes award from Austin Ballet for outstanding volunteer service and the 1997 Ma Ferguson Award for Excellence in the Public Sector.

 

Other Upcoming Events

  • December (Date TBD) – Holiday Mixer with SWE/WITI/Women of AT&T
  • Jan 20, 2015 – Professional Development Meeting
  • February 6-8 – Region C Conference in Austin, TX.  Reserve your hotel room now!  Registration will open soon.

Younger Members

Are you a recent college grad? New to the DFW area? Looking to meet other engineering or STEM professionals who are also early in their career? Dallas SWE is looking to start a Younger Members listserv! Email Morgen Schroeder if you are interested in joining the mailing list. We hope to meet for brunch once a month!

Annual SWE Conference: WE14 Event Recap

by Dallas SWE on in Special Events

SWEicwes icon

On October 22-25, 2014, a record-breaking 8,200 attendees met in Los Angeles for WE14, the Annual Society of Women Engineers Conference!  This year’s conference was also combined with ICWES16, the conference for the International Network of Women Engineers and Scientists, which was a celebration of that organization’s 50th anniversary.  This partnership brought a new level of energy and attendees from 42 countries to an already HUGE conference!  Attendees from all across the world came together to learn, network, and discuss a variety of topics ranging from professional development and leadership skills to outreach and academia.

Many Dallas SWE members were in attendance, and below you will find a full run-down of major events from my (Shelley Stracener, Dallas SWE Section Rep and Webmaster) perspective.  Later in the week, I’ll be posting some Dallas SWE member perspectives on their experience at WE14.  For those of you who have never been to an international SWE conference, check out the latest issue of SWE Magazine to get an idea of the volume and variety of sessions that were available. A few videos have been uploaded to the new WE TV Youtube Channel with clips from major events at the conference and interviews with SWE leadership.  You can also view many filmed sessions by registering for the WE14  Virtual Experience.  Check out the WE14 Registration Information page for more information.

iScream Social

WE14 kicked off Wednesday night with the iScream Social, a combination Halloween costume contest and delicious dessert bar.  There were some really creative costumes this year and you can’t really go wrong with tasty ice cream!

Keynote Breakfast

Thursday morning, attendees of the Keynote Breakfast were in for a treat when SWE President Elizabeth Bierman took the stage to have a fireside-chat style interview with Gwynne Shotwell (which you can watch in its entirety here at the SWE YouTube channel), President and COO of SpaceX.  The interview format was great, especially the ability for the audience to submit questions via Twitter for Elizabeth to ask!  Shotwell candidly relayed lessons learned from her experiences as a mechanical engineering individual contributor through her transition to upper management where she now manages the daily operations of a $5 billion company with 3,000 people on its payroll.   She was also very frank about how she’s chosen to balance her career with home life and responsibilities.  Gwynne’s idea of work life balance “is not 50-50, it’s whatever is sustainable,” which for her meant hiring a nanny to help with household tasks and supervising her two children when they were young so that she could give more focus to her work.  Later, as a divorced mother, she was able to schedule business trips on weeks when her children were with their father.  She said she’s never had a direct career plan, but has instead been open to opportunities as they’ve presented themselves.  To the question, “Where do you see yourself in 5 years?” she responded that she would like to focus on improving the education system in the United States.  It was a REALLY inspirational way to start out the conference: definitely take the time to watch the entire interview.  It is well worth it!

Region C Meeting

Thursday afternoon, Region C Governor Dianne Beever hosted a series of Region C Meetings: first the professional section meeting, a joint session for both professionals and collegiates, then a session just for collegiate sections.  In the professional session, we broke up into small groups on a number of different topics: the new Region C Mentoring Program, social media use, the Region C leadership pipeline, and the possibility of having a Region Conference in conjunction with another nearby region.  There was some really great feedback on these topics!  In the joint session, we got an update from our Region C Senators and Treasurer and some announcements on the Region C Conference Feb 6-8, 2015 in Austin, TX.  For more details and documents from the Region C meetings, check out the Region C Professional blog post about it!  You can also view more details on how to get involved in SWE HQ and Region C volunteer activities, including leadership evaluation, scholarship application evaluation, and Region C Award selection in this Region C Professional blog post.

Great group at the Region C Joint Meeting! Join us for the Region C Conference in February!
Great group at the Region C Joint Meeting! Join us for the Region C Conference in February!

Career Fair

Over 300 companies were represented at the WE14 career fair which opened Thursday afternoon, continuing into hospitality suites that evening, and all day Friday. Certain times were set aside for experience professional recruiting, but most of the career fair was open to SWE members and non-members alike.  Many companies had areas reserved in the exhibit hall where they could conduct on-site interviews with prospective candidates! Many SWE members, including myself, have gotten jobs at SWE conference career fairs.  It’s an amazing experience!

Dallas SWE members outside the Career Fair!
Dallas SWE members outside the Career Fair!

Celebrate SWE!

At Celebrate SWE, the conference’s closing banquet, Dallas SWE President in FY13 and FY14, Jennifer Vilbig, received the Outstanding SWE Counselor Award for her work with Southern Methodist University SWE!  You can view her bio and details about the award from SWE Magazine here.  Dallas SWE also received the Outstanding Parent and Educator Program Award for the Adult Session portions of our Design Your World – STEM Conference for Girls events!

Volunteering

This was the first year that I signed up to be a volunteer for a SWE Annual Conference.  The 50% registration discount was attractive since my employer does not subsidize my travel or registration for the conference, and since I signed up to be a volunteer early on in the process I was able to judiciously select my 4 hours of volunteer shifts during sessions that I wanted to attend anyway!  It was really great to participate in making WE14 a success, and being a room monitor allowed me to spend additional time with the great speakers in each session.  Plus I got a beautiful blue scarf that designated me as a volunteer in-the-know!  I will definitely be signing up to volunteer again next year and encourage you to as well!

Halliburton Event Recap

by Dallas SWE on in Meetings

On Tuesday, October 21, 2014, Halliburton’s women’s network, Women Sharing Excellence (WSE), and Dallas SWE partnered for an exciting and informational session and plant tour of Halliburton’s Completion Technology and Manufacturing Center in Carrollton, TX. Over 35 attendees enjoyed dinner and networking.

Great turnout for the Halliburton tour!
Great turnout for the Halliburton tour!

Jason Besly provided an overview of the center which supports over 1,500 employees. Summer Condarco, Carrollton’s Manufacturing Director, shared an overview of her career at Halliburton which included various leadership positions and an overseas assignment in Singapore. She attributed her career success to saying “yes” to opportunities and knowing when to ask for help. Attendees had some great questions for her on the topics of her experience with cultural differences in Singapore, management transition strategies, and how networking has helped her to be noticed for new opportunities in her career.  She also had some insightful comments on how to use data-based conversations to neutralize difficult personalities in the workplace.

SWE and WSE members toured the 66 acre facility which included a Manufacturing Plant, three Test Wells, several Technology Testing Facilities and a Raw materials warehouse. Our tour guides emphasized that safety and customer service are core values of Halliburton employees.  Carrollton Technology is one of 2,343 sites in the United States that is honored with holding the OSHA VPP Star Site status.

Awesome and practical Halliburton goodies!
Awesome and practical Halliburton goodies!

A special thanks to our host and Dallas SWE Program Committe Chair, Lori Wiltz, for setting up this great event and to Halliburton for providing us with awesome souvenir lunch bags and coffee mugs.

We look forward to seeing you at our November 18 meeting.  Mark your calendars!  More details to come.

Cherrie Fisher, PMP
AT&T Information Technology
Dallas SWE Vice President

Learn about Growth in Women’s Leadership!

by Dallas SWE on in Meetings

Dallas SWE and Halliburton’s Women Sharing Excellence (WSE) network invite you to join them for a networking dinner, tour, and presentation on Growth of Women’s Leadership!

When: Tuesday October 21st, 2014
Event starts at 6:00PM and should conclude by 8:00PM
Please arrive a bit early as non-Halliburton employees will have a security check-in

Where: Halliburton Completion Technology and Manufacturing Center, 2601 E. Belt Line Rd., Carrollton, TX, 75006

Cost: Free, and boxed meals will be graciously provided by our hosts Halliburton!
Other Upcoming Events
  • Volunteers are still needed for our November 1, 2014 Design Your World – STEM Conference for Girls!  Please fill out the Volunteer Response Form to let us know how you can help.
  • Dallas SWE will again be participating in the Coppell High School Engineering Expo on November 2, 2014.  Please email us at dallas.swe@gmail.com to let us know if you’re interested in helping us talk to students about what it’s like to be an engineer!
  • WE14, the Annual SWE Conference, is October 22-25 in Los Angeles, CA.  We hope to see you there!  The WE14 mobile app was just released on Android and iOS: check it out and plan your schedule!
  • Remember to reserve your housing for the 2015 SWE Region C Conference in Austin, TX Feb 6-8
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